Virus watch: 15 Haryana dists have ‘critically positive’ tag
These districts threw up majority of 1.01 lakh Covid infections reported in the state last week
CHANDIGARH: Fifteen of 22 Haryana districts have attained sample positivity rate of more than 6% thus getting categorised as districts with critical positivity rate.
These districts spread across the northern, southern and north-western parts of Haryana also threw up majority of 1.01 lakh Covid infections reported last week in state.
However, the health department statistics show that there was a decrease in the percentage of cases reported last week as compared to the week before.
The state had 10,440 more infections last week (May 3-9) as compared to the week before (April 26-May 2).
The difference between infections reported between April 19-25 and April 26-May 2 was higher at 23,221 cases.
Additional chief secretary (ACS, health), Rajeev Arora said that there has been a decline in the daily positivity rate since April 30.
“It was 29.32% on April 30 but has came down to 25.30% now. Gurugram, Karnal, Panchkula and Sonepat have seen a decline in daily positivity rate since April 30,” the ACS said, indicating stabilisation of cases in many districts.
Faridabad, Gurugram lead in infections
As per the health department statistics, Faridabad with a positivity rate of 12.58% leads the charts followed by Gurugram
(11.67%), Panipat (9.63%), Sonepat (8.71%), Hisar (8.49%), Panchkula (8.46%), Karnal (8.20%), Ambala (7.39%), Fatehabad (7.37%), Mahendergarh (7.15%), Jind (7.03%), Rewari (6.96%), Yamunanagar (6.13%), Sirsa (6.14%) and Kurukshetra (6.02%). Only two districts - Nuh (1.53%) and Charkhi Dadri (1.83%) - have a desirable positivity rate of less than 2%.
Gurugram accounts for about one-third of total active cases in Haryana, followed by Faridabad, Hisar, Panipat, Sonepat, Karnal and Ambala.
Statistics show that the overall sample positivity rate of Haryana also jumped to 7.86% last week from 6.89% the week before. The state also saw 1,119 deaths last week due to virus-related illness, the first time since March 2020 so many fatalities took place in a week. The case fatality rate, however, was less than 1%.
Deaths in rural areas on the rise
Statistics also indicate a steady
rise in the number of deaths being reported from rural areas of Haryana.
The percentage of deaths reported from rural areas in late February when the surge had just started was about 29.36% of the total deaths.
It was 29.63% on March 21, 31.83% on April 25, and 33.52% of the total deaths on May 9.
Deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala, while admitting that spread of virus is growing exponentially in the rural areas, announced funds for every gram panchayat to set up isolation wards and buy oximeters, etc to fight the pandemic in villages.
Karnal, Kurukshetra admns set up alternate hospitals for patients
With number of critical Covid-19 patients continuing to rise, the district health authorities are setting up temporary hospitals to accommodate the patients.
The Karnal administration has set up a 100-bed Covid
healthcare centre at a banquet hall in Karnal and 30-bed Covid hospital in Assandh on Monday.
Karnal deputy commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said these temporary hospitals will have oxygen support and will help provide basic facilities to patients who require oxygen support.
Last week, the administration had set up a 250-bed Covid care centre in Phoonsgarh village to meet the increasing demands of hospital beds.
As per figures of the district health department, there are 16 Covid hospitals in district and they have 647 beds with oxygen support and 637 beds are already occupied.
Similarly, the Kurukshetra administration has created a 50-bed Covid care centre in a private school on Monday.
Kurukshetra chief medical officer Sant Lal Verma said that patients with mild symptoms will be admitted in these hospitals to contain the spread of the virus among their family members.